smerriman

There were 6 more pages of posts after the one you're referring to. The last update mentioned above was early 2019, but based on the lack of responses to anything about the topic, it seems unlikely there'll be another one.

Oh well, you won't learn if you don't try. At least I have the consolation that johnu, Stephen Tu, and the team that won 12 IMPs, also lack the same expertise. Guess it can't have been such a high standard event after all!

Challenges / daylongs, any other one-player tournament do not count towards your TCR. The only ones which do are those that negatively impact other human players; the only way to improve it is to not leave such tournaments before they are finished.

Given this is in the Expert forum, I'm clearly missing something. If I ruff with the ten, and it loses to the Jack, I'm down immediately (no way East passes with AKJxxx and the king of spades). So I see no alternative to ruffing high.

If you're looking for older hands, use https://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/index.php (this goes back a couple of months).

Rather unusual auction, with West doing his absolute utmost to pretend he doesn't have the club ace, then East bidding slam anyway :/

This isn't really true. Regardless of where the company is based, the GDPR legally applies to all EU citizens accessing BBO.

Most systems over 2NT let you sign off at the three level; you can play Wolff sign-off, or transfers, etc.

Where did you direct the chat to? There are a few options to choose from in the chat box (see blue button to the left of the chat line) - perhaps you had chosen the '-> kibitzers' option, rather than '-> table'. It can sometimes default to something unintended depending on the order the table is set up in, etc.

17 or 18 seems a bit extreme. If partner responds 1 of anything, are you really jumping to 3♣? It's an obvious opener, but definitely not extras.

GIB doesn't count losers; 3♠ is 15+ total points and its horrible evaluation method says it has 14. And that a jump to 4♠ is 22.

Yes, I did. Like I mentioned, I don't believe you are stupid, but I consider passing 2♥ an equally bad mistake as passing 2♣. So how could I possibly know which one you consider an insult and which one you don't?

Can passing forcing bids lead to a better score? Yes. Does that mean you should have passed a forcing bid here? Of course not. When partner has game in his own hand, you're going to look ridiculous. Just bid normally; everyone else will be in the same spot (unless they are really bad players). Even contemplating it is showing a pretty significant lack of bidding knowledge. And to be honest, my first thought was that you were thinking about passing 2♣ too - not as an insult, simply because I would consider passing 2♥ equally bad, so it wasn't clear which of those two options you were thinking about.

The first deadline has passed, but I received no results. The second round appears to be open to all 63 participants again.

There's plenty of time to think about where you wished you were after the likely outcome that 2♣ is followed by 3 passes, but definitely not plenty of time to get there. The jump cue bid. There's only really one possible meaning, so while it's understandable to not "know" them, there's no reason not to "play" them now that you do (which tends to imply you have an alternative definition). Extremely rare bid nonetheless.

3♠ was my first thought.

Congrants Garant_7! Such a close final.

There seems to be two standard approaches; one that redouble denies a fit altogether (with, say, 2N Jordan including a 3 card raise), and one that bundles 3 card raises in with the redouble (where you raise at your next opportunity). 1. 1♠ forcing; suits at the two level nonforcing and denying values. If you don't like not being able to show your suit, that's why people play transfer responses. 2. Depends on the above methods but probably preference given you have 3♥ to invite. 3. Non-forcing. Bidding before giving your partner a chance to penalise shows a super weak hand. I'd expect something like a 5-5 10-11 count. Jumping to 3C would still be weak, just even more distribution. 4. Can really play anything here. 5. Definitely forcing. 6. Have played both of the above methods; don't really mind. 7, 8. Nope.

The point is that there is simply no need to make a change. Those who want to see the next hand can do so, and those that want to pause and review the previous hand can also do so. Changing it to force a pause would just frustrate those who don't want to pause, which is likely a huge majority. (And adding excessive 'table options' is generally undesirable).

2/1 doesn't mean you abandon normal bidding to bid a 2/1 when you have a game forcing hand. 1♠ is an insta-response.

It hasn't gone. You just need to change the filters at the bottom of the forum to show posts older than the 30 days, which it stops at by default.

I disagree strongly with this. If 4♦ is keycard, what bid do you make when you are interested in a diamond slam, but are missing a control in a side suit (or want to probe for grand)? You must have a way to set diamonds and start a control bidding sequence without simply resorting to asking for aces. [edit] Actually, if a direct 4♦ (instead of 3♥) is forcing and asks for controls, then it's fine to have the other method being keycard. But it seems you weren't intending this, as you said 3♥ would be 'too strong to raise to 4♦'.

While GIB is pretty bad, having 2NT as a transfer is pretty common even in human systems. For example (and this isn't what GIB plays), this method of four suit transfers is a popular treatment. It includes a note about how to invite at the bottom given 2NT isn't available. I'm guessing you're referring to an auction like 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥ (that's the only sequence GIB describes as a mild slam try). It's also standard to play that as a mild slam try, because if you had no slam interest you'd transfer straight to game with a Texas transfer: 1NT - 4♦ - 4♥. The note at the bottom of the link again refers to the original sequence as being a slam try.

Pass, presumably.

Because unlike other situations where you overcall / open hearts and then bid your diamonds, here 2♥ is an artifical two suited bid which doesn't promise longer hearts. Emphasising your minor on the second round is going to look much more like your diamonds are your better suit.